As American Guang Shi drove from Hyde Park’s Sheraton Grand hotel into the car park of Olympic Park’s URBNSURF on Wednesday afternoon, police were watching. When he met three other men, investigators pounced, arresting the shoeless Californian and three Chinese nationals in broad daylight under a cloudless winter sky.
Shi had a plan, police say. The 40-year-old Californian had intended to import 250 kilograms of methylamphetamine from his native Los Angeles to Sydney’s notoriously lucrative drug market.
Guang Shi was arrested at URBNSURF on Monday.Credit: AFP
Shi had intended to sell the drugs, sourced for $7 million from an American organised crime gang, for many times that price in Australia, police will allege.
Shi allegedly planned to import the eye-watering quantity of drugs to Australia via container ship, then fly to Sydney to take possession of it.
He had laid the groundwork, police allege, by visiting Sydney earlier this year and shoring up what he was going to do.
“He was meeting a number of people here which we will allege was part of the attempt to possess … the drugs in Australia,” Australian Federal Police acting Commander Peter Fogarty told reporters on Thursday.
Arriving in Sydney for the second time on Monday, Shi checked in at his city hotel. That afternoon, he went to the newly opened URBNSURF facility at Olympic Park where police allege he had organised to take possession of what he thought was a quarter of a tonne of methylamphetamine.
What he didn’t realise is that the US’ Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the AFP had been watching him since March.
Wearing a black hoodie and without shoes, Shi was arrested in the URBNSURF car park. He was charged with attempting to possess a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
After refusing a police interview, he was refused bail to appear in the Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday.
Shi did not apply for bail, and will return to the same court in September.
URBNSURF opened in May this year.Credit: Max Mason-Hubers
Three other men, all Chinese nationals living in Australia, were also arrested but not charged.
“There were three men arrested at the same time. They were in the vicinity of the male that was arrested. We believe they were in contact with him. They have since been released subject to further inquiries,” Fogarty said.
Police have since executed a search warrant at the men’s Silverwater unit, where they seized “a number of items”, the AFP said in a statement.
“Following the arrests in Australia, HSI executed a number of search warrants in the United States – in Los Angeles, Massachussetts and New York – and a further three offenders were arrested,” Fogarty said.
The 250 kilograms that Shi had allegedly bought had been replaced with an inert substance by police, Fogarty said.
“[It] is a significant amount of drugs that would have caused a significant amount of harm to the Australian community,” he said of the bust’s significance.
“The Australian market is definitely lucrative, one of the most lucrative in the world.”
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